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John Newton - On Dreaming
Work rating: Medium

When slumber seals our weary eyes, 
The busy fancy wakeful keeps; 
The scenes which then before us rise, 
Prove something in us never sleeps.

As in another world we seem, 
A new creation of our own, 
All appears real, though a dream, 
And all familiar, though unknown.

Sometimes the mind beholds again 
The past day`s business in review, 
Resumes the pleasure or the pain; 
And sometimes all we meet is new.

What schemes we form, what pains we take! 
We fight, we run, we fly, we fall; 
But all is ended when we wake, 
We scarcely then a trace recall.

But though our dreams are often wild, 
Like clouds before the driving storm; 
Yet some important may be styl`d, 
Sent to admonish or inform.

What mighty agents have access, 
What friends from heav`n, or foes from hell, 
Our minds to comfort or distress, 
When we are sleeping, who can tell?

One thing, at least, and `tis enough, 
We learn from this surprising fact; 
Our dreams afford sufficient proof, 
The soul, without the flesh, can act.

This life, which mortals so esteem, 
That many choose it for their all, 
They will confess, was but a dream,
When `waken`d by death`s awful call.
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